Thread: Don't laugh....

We'll never put a man down for having a go. Besides, I can confidently say that my first effort was not a patch on yours. I can't actually see much wrong with your box at all. How did you cut the dadoes in the sides and base?
Look forward to seeing the finished article. Man, you have a lot of harmonicas!

Very nice work. I'm still to make my first box and if it's anywhere as good as yours, I'll be a happy Chappy.

Thanks guys! The dadoes are cut with the router in a home made table, just a straight bit and fence with a feather board pushing the piece down onto the table and a piece of mdf clamped to push the piece against the fence. The base and top have the same rebate around the edge. Bit of messing around and lots of pondering to get to this, about a days work.

And no, I can't play them all at once [emoji15]

Your mitres look pretty good Cal, not the easiest joint to get right when starting out.
Try making a box as often as possible, and your confidence and skills will increase immeasurably.

Regards
Keith

Thanks Keith, I have done mitres before just not that easy on the triton with its wonky mitre gauge and the wobbly arbour of the triton saw! The fine blade helps and fine passes. Getting there.
Cheers Cal


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That's a really nice job, especially as you only have the Triton. Are the dividers glued in? If not, you might put some slipfeathers in the mitres to give them a bit more strength. Otherwise, it looks pretty good to me.

Cal...that box is a triumph!! Its great to see someone getting good results with what they have on hand. You have shown that you don't necessarily need to spend up on machinery to get a good job!

I like the "thinness" of the box parts as well as the rebate for the lid. The proportions are favourable to the eye. That in it self is a triumph with the sloppiness of the Triton set up. Now all you need is to give it a good finish

Looks pretty good. Half the work is just setting the tools up. You have done a good job with your dividers too.

Good work, Cal. Very neat job on the dividers, too. What sort of finish will you use? Are you planning to line the box?

Look forward to seeing the finished article!

Brian

Good job for a first time. The only advice i could give is to sand all the inside edges and surfaces before you glue it all together

Great box, very nice indeed. I would love to play the harmonica. never really gave it much of a go. I'm currently building my first acoustic guitar which is like chalk and cheese to building my first 6 electric guitars. Talking about you having so many harmonicas, quick story, a bloke come around to my house a year or so ago and told me he had 17 guitars. I said why do you want that many guitars, he said he cant help himself, he sees a guitar he likes and has to buy it. Then he said but his wife wont let him buy anymore, that's it,..!!

So yes, when you start collecting some music instruments it becomes very addictive. Box making is addictive, guitar making is addictive as well as a huge challenge. I keep saying this will be my last but I have another in my head (somewhere).

Paul

Hi mate. Not sure why any one would criticise it. It looks the goods to me. In fact I can't fault it at all. But I'm no craftsmen, Just a lowly cabinetmaker now.

What timber is what, I don't really know many species living in the deep south, but if you'd asked me to guess the timber, Id say the sides look just like Meranti and the flat, larger stuff like Tassie oak plywood. Shows how much I know.

When I first went out working for myself, after my carpentry apprenticeship, 19 years ago, I'd yet to afford a mitre saw so used to lug around a triton workstation (possibly the first ever model???, borrowed off my dad) I used it for everything. Ha, what an awkward thing that was to lug around and set up/convert between modes. I don't think my dad has it anymore, but I remember when converted to a rip/table saw, the rip fence was squared up to the blade solely using the measurements on the table. Relying on the saws initial set up etc.

Certainly did the job, but a decent mitre saw was a godsend when I eventually could afford one. A bosch blue GM10. A yank tank. turned out it was a POS but thats another story

Wow, didn't expect such a response, thank you all for the encouragement [emoji3]

To try and answer a few questions:
I haven't glued anything as yet, just a dry fit so far. I still need to make more dividers and will be gluing them in to add strength to the box as it is so long.

The underside of the lid has been cut out (again on the router table) as I messed up on the overall depth of the box. I then scrapped the router marks out with a wide chisel (I don't have a card scraper)

To make the dividers line up bottom to sides I sat them all side by side and taped them together, marked out the spacing and sat it on the saw table eyeballed the marks and cut. To my surprise it worked!

I'm not yet sure if I will line the box or just oil the inside with paraffin? As harmonicas end up full of spit, I don't want to breed anything when the box is closed. I may place a few holes in the box somewhere to help air movement.

Sanding. Yep will do that for sure. I will also round over the dividers a little.

As for the quantity of harmonicas, it's not just greed! [emoji1] There is a reason for it. Unlike a piano, guitar, violin (in fact most instruments) harmonicas come in one key, you can't re tune them so for a song in G you use a G, for a song in D you use a D (sort of) except for chromatic harmonicas (they have flats and sharps like a pianos black keys) by pushing a button/lever. I do have others though (I have been playing for a while now)

Would love to play guitar/banjo but can't find the time to learn! Making a guitar, too ambitious for me at this stage!

Anyway will get back to it, see if I can't stuff it up! [emoji848]

Cheers guys!


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Ok, finished cutting the dividers, cleaned it all up inside and have glued it up. Fingers crossed.

Here's a couple more pics taken before I sanded!